From July 2011, the ABS will be replacing the nation's official statistical geography, the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), with the new Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). The ASGS will define more stable, consistent and meaningful areas than the ASGC and will become the essential reference for understanding and interpreting the geographical context of ABS statistics. Current ASGC regions such as the Census Collection Districts (CDs), Statistical Local Areas (SLAs), and Statistical Divisions (SDs) will be replaced by the new Statistical Areas Levels 1 to 4 (SA1 - SA4). For more information about the ASGS, including boundary maps, labels and codes, see Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.001).

DEATH STATISTICS UNDER THE ASGS

From 2011 onwards, the SA2 will be the base spatial unit used to prepare and disseminate sub-state death statistics.

The first set of death statistics under the ASGS will be prepared for 2011 data and released in November 2012 in Deaths, Australia (cat. no. 3301.0). This release will contain a time series of death statistics for the new geography, as well as death statistics based on the old geography. Sub-state death statistics for 2012 onwards will only be prepared and released on the ASGS.

As LGA population estimates are regarded as a crucial ABS output, LGA death statistics will continue to be prepared post 2011. The boundaries on which these statistics will be prepared on will be updated each year, in line with official gazetted boundaries.

SA2 death statistics will be apportioned to SA1s, which can then be aggregated to form ABS structures such as Indigenous Regions and Remoteness Areas which make up part of the ASGS. Selected statistics based on these regions will be released on the website, or available on request.

The change in geographic classification means there will be an unavoidable break in time series. To assist users with this break in time series, the ABS plans to prepare historical death statistics under the new geography. The length of this time series depends on the geographic level or the type of death statistic. Time series will be released as part of the first releases of ASGS death statistics in November 2012.

A set of correspondences (concordances) will also be available to assist users in converting data from one geography to another. For a list of correspondences that the ABS intends to release, please see the Frequently Asked Questions link from the Geography Portal.